Almost all of the Public Relations staff from the summer volunteered at the Tree Lighting and posed with the newly revealed lawn artistic creation. Pete is in the center, seen with Ashley Lefevre and Chelsea Wortman on the left side, and Caitlin Denzler (with boyfriend Nick Russo) on the right.

Also volunteering from the Department of Public Relations, Harry Smith and John Martinez.

BACK AT THE FIREHOUSE, Line Controller John Praznic of the SHFD is seen letting children see Santa & Mrs. Claus one by one. Photos with Santa were taken by Seaside Heights Police Detective Joe Engrassia with the help of Lucille Kindangen. The event could not be held without the assistance of Station 44 members, who open their doors and hearts to the Seaside Heights community each year.

Seaside Heights Borough Administrator John Camera poses with the front office Borough Hall Christmas Tree, which has an interesting history.

See Historic Borough Hall Christmas Tree: The Borough Hall has a new/old Christmas Tree in 2007. Up in the attic of the Public Works building, near where the Borough decorations are stored, are an amount of boxes being stored for the Seaside Heights Board of Education. Some of the boxes are clearly Christmas Trees, and upon close examination, it was realized that one of these trees is very historic indeed. The tree that is now proudly on display in the corner of the Seaside Heights Borough Hall is the handsome tall full pine that once adorned the side of the stage at the Seaside Heights Elementary School during the namesake Hugh J. Boyd Jr. era, from 1967-1983. Mr. Boyd personally picked-out this tree and was extremely fussy in how it was maintained and presented. Many locals will remember the tree, which was displayed prominently during the various big Christmas concerts of the day. This tree was always decorated in red and white, so while on display in the Borough Hall, the tree is adorned in the same color scheme in honor of Mr. Hugh J. Boyd Jr.

PUTTING THE “O” IN H.O.T. Seaside Heights Council President Arline Ottoson acted as Mayor at the December 5th, 2007 meeting.

Although she has been a Seaside Heights Councilwoman for more than a decade, Arline Ottoson had never filled-in as Acting Mayor until December 5, 2007. Mayor Ken Hershey had another engagement this evening, and 2007 Council President Arline had to run the meeting in his absence. With Borough Administrator John Camera at her side, Arline opened the meeting, introduced actions that were voted upon, took public comment, and closed the meeting. Arline was recently re-elected to another 3-year term, and readers will know that she was the “O” in 2007 H.O.T. election team: Hershey, Ottoson and Tompkins.

Station 44 trucks are seen blocking the on-ramp to Route 37 where wires down caused this one hour scene on the snowy evening of December 5, 2007.

Station 44 reports to wires down: Braving a chilly winter mix of snow and ice, Station 44, The Seaside Heights Volunteer Fire Department blocked roads for nearly one hour during the early evening of Wednesday December 5th after a report of wires down. Station 44 trucks had to block the on-ramp to Route 37 East while crews from JCP&L repaired the downed wires. It is unclear how the wires fell, and no obvious power outages were observed or reported. After slowing down and re-routing traffic for about an hour, Station 44 reported back to their headquarters, but the night was not finished. Following the wires down call, some of the members came back for an extrication demonstration later that same night.